2b – Digital Identity

Your digital identity is who you are on the internet, or how others can perceive you online. One can manage this ideally by creating or removing content, but sometimes it cannot be helped, for example if others have taken photos or videos of you without your consent, or if you are featured in a piece of digital media that is not affiliated with you, like a magazine article. It is important to have a good digital identity because, as our world gets increasingly digitized, your online presence will be many’s first impression of you. I consider this issue a lot myself – I want to be a VC, and, especially if you have a solo fund, it is a career in which having a positive digital identity is very helpful. Founders want to be able to get a sense of who you are to decide if they want to raise money with you, and a good digital identity can open up many doors. However, it can be tricky for college kids. For example, I have a moderately popular TikTok account, which would be beneficial, except that I have used it in the past to post content that is less than professional. Now, whenever I am interviewing for internships, I have to carefully private content that might be objectionable, even if it’s popular, so that I don’t run the risk of losing out on opportunities due to my digital identity, which might not accurately represent me or the image that I want to portray.